Unbelievable. A lifetime's worth of popular belief dashed on the cold, hard rocks of fact.

Compare this record of average humidity for Los Angeles to this record of average humidity in New York. In July, in Los Angeles, the average a.m. humidity is 86%, and the p.m. average is 68%. In New York, it's 75% and 55% percent respectively.

WTF?

The annual averages:

Los Angeles: 79% / 65%
New York: 72% / 56%

This data is more or less corroborated by any number of other sites, including this, this, this, this, and this.

Clearly, the age old belief that NY is more humid than LA is wrong.

So, maybe it's the temperature that really makes the difference. I mean, you know, it's possible that NY is hotter than LA and I'm just dumb and never noticed.

The average temperature in Los Angeles in July is 74.3, with a high of 84 and a low of 64.5.

The average temperature in New York in July is 76.8, with a high of 85.2 and a low of 68.4.

The annual average for LA is 66, while in NY it's 54.7.

Okay, so it's incrementally hotter in NY in the summer...but only incrementally. Is that enough to account for this nearly universal belief that NY is magnitudes more muggy than LA? Does this mean that people in LA are somehow genetically meant to be in Phoenix? Does this mean that we're all just lazy thinkers and speakers and what we mean by humidity isn't really humidity?

Someone who knows something about this please help, 'cause all I know is that the weather we've got going on here right now feels more like a disgusting NY afternoon than the breezy, dry stuff we all used to think we had, and I sure as hell am not the only one to notice.

Wow, you really are unemployed Pieter!